Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp apologises for angry touchline spat with fan during shock Swansea defeat

Klopp’s miserable night took a turn for the worse when he became involved in an angry exchange with a Swansea supporter during the surprise 1-0 defeat

Tuesday 23 January 2018 08:54 EST
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Jurgen Klopp was involved in a spat with a Swansea supporter
Jurgen Klopp was involved in a spat with a Swansea supporter (Getty)

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was involved in an angry exchange with a fan as Swansea counterpart Carlos Carvalhal declared his side were "breathing" after their shock 1-0 Liberty Stadium win.

Alfie Mawson's first-half winner produced one of the shock results of the season as the Premier League's bottom club downed opponents previously unbeaten in 18 games.

Liverpool's below-par performance was all the more unfathomable as it came after they had ended the unbeaten record of leaders Manchester City, and Klopp's miserable night took a turn for the worse when he was involved in a spat with a Swansea supporter.

"He was shouting at me all the time and I reacted once," Klopp said of the second-half incident.

"I must remind myself I'm a human being and not just a professional manager who takes that all the time. They can say whatever they want, at one point I turned to him and said, 'Please!' It was only one moment when I had enough, it wasn't to do with the fact we were 1-0 down.

"I'm sure I am not the first manager who has had a problem with him there, he must be a season ticket holder. It was my fault as well. I should not react, but I didn't say anything bad. I just showed I wasn't happy about what he was saying."

Roberto Firmino almost rescued a point for Liverpool in stoppage time when his header came back off a post.

But Klopp was left bemoaning a result which leaves Liverpool six points adrift of second-placed Manchester United and three behind Chelsea in third.

"I'm more frustrated with the performance than the result and I'm angry because it was not a good game," Klopp said.

"We lost the game in the first half. We didn't do what we wanted to do.

"It hasn't happened too often, so I didn't expect that and I was quite surprised.

"Swansea are fighting for their life and we've no problem with that.

"But to win this game Swansea needed our help and they had it."

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